Eddie Alvarez is very close to signing a UFC deal, it has been reported.

The former Bellator FC lightweight champion recently saw his contract with Bellator expire and there has been contact with the UFC regarding a potential move. According to Middle Easy, the signing will be announced as little as a week from now.

Fighters Only reported Alvarez’s move to the UFC being likely earlier this year, even before his contract with Bellator was expired.

Our source said that the tone had “soured” between Alvarez and Bellator and that “a resolution now seems all but impossible, with the respective parties adamant that they cannot move from their stated positions.”

Alvarez went on to have his final fight, a rematch with Shinya Aoki which he won in devastating fashion last month. Immediately after the win he called on Bellator FC president Bjorn Rebney to “show me the money” but his plea appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

Things might have been different had Alvarez still been the lightweight champion but he lost the belt to Michael Chandler in late 2011 in what was a Fight of the Year contender. Regardless, Rebney plays things very tight financially and he has shown in the past he will not be drawn into bidding wars or take risks with his capital.

A case in point is Hector Lombard, who has been lured away from his Bellator FC middleweight title by the offer of UFC money. While Bellator may have been able to match the money the UFC offered Lombard, the value of Lombard remaining may not have matched the cost and so Rebney let him go.